From Suffagist to Apologist: The Loss of Feminist Politics in a Politically Correct Patriarchy‪.‬

This article emerges out of a series of observations of how feminist studies have been eroded away in academic institutions the world over, partially through the systematic closure of gender studies courses, partially because of the claims that feminist ideologies have been incorporated into syllabi and are, therefore, no longer necessary as a separate area of study, and partially through the vaguely defined, yet thoroughly maintained, argument that in an era of sensitivity to the ways in which power is distributed in various societies, feminist politics are no longer "necessary." In the course of this article I will dismantle these types of arguments, and will suggest instead that such opinions do not emerge out of an increased social and political awareness, but rather out of a more insidious form of patriarchal distribution of power in a variety of societies. The accusation by the Western world that it is in the Third World and the orient that patriarchies continue to exist in the most severe forms, is not only an example of continued Western arrogance, xenophobia and racism, but also a very serious refusal to analyze and engage with the complex workings of patriarchy within Western societies themselves. Furthermore, Western societies' assumptions that the areas in which patriarchy exerts its oppressive force are now predominantly restricted to domestic violence and rape attempts to reduce patriarchy to the realm of the personal and thereby refuses to acknowledge the broader socio-political manifestations of patriarchy that often underlie such personal violations, and, in my view, often seek to condone such behavior. A pertinent example of this is the construction of masculinity in popular culture and the press. The ease with which the blame for patriarchal oppression is apportioned to "cultural difference" is a highly problematic issue and "restricting" patriarchy to the realms of sexual violation and rape is yet another mode of ensuring that responsibility for continued patriarchal modalities of power is assigned to the space of social "other," whether that be the criminal rapist or the culturally defined other. This article seeks to investigate the patriarchal modalities of power that infuse mass Western culture, the reasons why these modalities are negated as being patriarchal, and the problems this poses for contemporary feminist politics.